Away with the old, welcome the new
by Uncle.Dragon
Summary: Supposedly my new Ichiban no Ushiro no Daimaou fic, but since that section is not out yet, might as well as make do with a Shiznat fic for now. Review please!


The bus rolled away, leaving its two passengers at the bus stop. They were both of the same height, and of the same pale skin. One had raven black hair, wears a working suit and emerald eyes. The other, had blonde hair, wears a violet kimono with floral patterns on the sleeve corners and ruby eyes.

"So we're finally here again..." The red eyed one muttered to the other, staring at the sign stating _'Welcome to Asuka City'_

"A lot has changed." She murmured back in her naturally regal tone.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to the Shinra Building's shadow not being there." The black haired woman said, looking to the exact spot where a skyscraper had loomed, many years ago. What the brunette has said had been true; a lot had changed in the town...no. Not a town anymore but a city.

"Remember the good times we had there?"

"Like it was yesterday."

They went back to silence, as they picked up their items- a few carry-on cases of luggage and a large duffel bag- and caught a cab to their hotel.

The pair shared a mournful laugh, as they saw the name of the place that they were to stay the night. _**Funbari Hot Springs resort**_. Surprisingly enough, it wasn't a 12-storey building. No, it had been built in the same homey style that the original inn had been built. The front had even been designed to look like it was made out of logs. "Things have changed, but I guess some things stay, too." The blueeyed one said.

"Too true indeed." answered the other. They took up their items once again, and stepped into the building. Though on the outside it was rustic, the inside was completely modern.

They approached the front desk. The woman sitting there didn't even realize they were there, until one cleared her throat. The woman at the desk looked up and scrambled to stand up. Once she was up, she plastered on a smile. "Hello. Would you like a room?"

"Yes please." The dark-haired woman said politely. The woman sat back down in her chair, and typed something into the computer on the desk. "How long will you be staying?"

"About 5 days."

The lady typed something else into it.

"And your names?"

The green haired one spoke this time. "Natsuki and Shizuru Kruger."

* * *

Settled in the hotel room, Natsuki and Shizuru lay awake in bed.

"You know, just seeing how different it all is now, I've forgotten what we're doing here in the first place." Natsuki said, staring up at the ceiling.

"We're here to give a speech about the Dragon King Succession Wars to some of the local high schools, and the college." Shizuru reminded, her eyes fixated above her like Natsuki's were.

"Ah."

Silence reigned.

"Natsuki?"

"Yeah?"

The ex-vampire queen rolled over onto her side, looking at Natsuki's back. "Would...would you like to check around the city this week? Because, we've only seen the main road, and we haven't been here, ever since..." Shizuru trailed off, both knowing what she meant. Neither of them had been within the city ever since _**Mai Tokiha**_, _**Midori**_, _**Takeshi "Gian" Goda**_, _**Shizuo Heiwajima**_ and everyone else they know died. Natsuki didn't say anything, and Shizuru had feared that she has said something wrong, until...

"Sure." Natsuki rolled over onto her side also... just facing away from Shizuru. "Good night, Shizuru."

Stunned that she had even received an answer, Shizuru laid in silence for a few minutes. "Good night, my little puppy." She finally whispered.

* * *

**Day 1**

"...and that's how the Rider System works. Any other questions?" Shizuru smiled cheerfully at the young men and women attending the school.

Someone's fist shot up into the air. "Yes?" She called out. "You, in the back."

A male voice shouted out to them, "What do you eat while you're out there?"

"Good question." Natsuki responded. "Well, we usually carry some non-perishable foods with us. Something packaged usually, and for other things, we usually add some water to it."

Another person's hand raised. Maria nodded towards them. "Yes?"

"Why do people even join the army, when they're only training for war? War doesn't do anything but bring sorrow, pain, and harm to us all. When they join the army, they're basically sending themselves straight into Death's lair, and it's only a matter of time until Death will swoop down and get them all. So why? Especially now, with the troubles revolving Fantasia and Bronquia?"

Natsuki and Shizuru looked between themselves, trying to find a proper answer for her question.

"People have different reasons. Some people join to serve their country. Some do it for the pure pleasure of taking orders. Some do it because they want to follow their romantic fantasies of what they think is war." Shizuru explained. "And for some..."

"It's a family thing." Natsuki said softly, closing her eyes. Behind her closed lids, she could see her brother in-law, Shizuo, clearly as ever. The quiet murmur of a few students disappeared, replaced with the sound of long-lost family's voice whispering into her ears.

* * *

**Day 2**

"And how do you like this, Natsuki?" Shizuru asked, modelling a light dress for the werewolf. The white light glowed harshly down upon them. It caught upon the small gold amulet that was draped around Shizuru's neck, probably one of the only real magical items left on Earth.

"It's nice." Natsuki said simply, not bothering to even look at her. Shizuru scowled. "Yes, well, I think that I'll just take this dress off and run down the street in the nude, you know. Then, I'll probably hit it off with some sleazy alcoholic, and we'll elope, leaving you all by your lonesome. What do you think?"

"That's nice too."

"By the Dragon King..." Shizuru sighed. She went back into the change room, and came out with her normal clothes again. Walking forward, she grasped Natsuki's chin, and turned her head, forcing the werewolf to look her straight in the eye.

"Natsuki, are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Natsuki said. If anyone had just listened to her voice, they would have been convinced that everything was alright. But Shizuru wasn't just 'anyone.' She knew that you had to look Natsuki in the eyes at time like this to see the truth. And staring Natsuki straight in the eye, she knew that something definitely was wrong.

Shizuru sighed, and dropped Natsuki's chin. Going over to the salesgirl, the vampire thanked her politely, before she grabbed onto Natsuki's arm, and marched her out of the store. "Shizuru, what, for the Dragon King's sake, are you doing?"

"We're going to go see it Natsuki. I know you've been thinking about it, and looking at where it used to be all day."

Natsuki stiffened, and tried to protest. "We can't!" She spluttered. "We...we haven't got enough time before we give our next speech. And, I-I don't remember where it is!" Shizuru stopped suddenly, right in the middle of the sidewalk they were on. Her firm grip on Maria's arm made sure that she stopped too.

"Natsuki Kiba Kruger." Shizuru hissed. "Don't even try to deny it. And if you don't remember, we're giving our talk to a night school Natsuki, NIGHT school. It's only 1 PM." Shizuru maneuvered herself over to a nearby park bench, with Natsuki having no choice but to follow. As soon as they sat, Natsuki averted her eyes, and looked away from Shizuru. All her sire did was grasp Natsuki's fingers, and gently intertwine them with her own.

Shizuru's eyes softened and she continued, in a much quieter tone.

"Natsuki, I know it hurts. I was there when it happened too, you know. Don't make this harder than it already is." Shizuru used her other hand to cup Natsuki's cheek, once again turning Natsuki's face towards her. Natsuki made eye contact with her wife, but it wasn't forced this time. "If we visit where Garderobe used to be, it will be better for the both of us. We can't run away from the past, my little puppy."

Natsuki finally nodded. "You're right. I shouldn't avoid it." She managed to truly smile. "Let's go."

Shizuru grinned. The couple stood back up, fingers still laced together. Inwardly, Shizuru was ecstatic; they hadn't held hands in years.

"Oh, and Natsuki?"

"Yes?"

"How can you, of all people, use 'I don't remember where it is?' as an excuse? We lived there for years, and visited those who still did on a daily basis after we moved out."

"..."

Shizuru and Natsuki stared at the land where Garderobe used to be. Upon its grounds, they were laying the foundation for another building. A little farther away, the land was being flattened for what was most likely a parking lot.

"What could they be making now? Some sort of ritzy hotel? No, no, I bet they're making a shopping mall." Natsuki seethed, every word dripping with venom. Very close by there was a poster, announcing what it was going to be. Unfortunately, some vandals had torn part of it down, and obviously it hadn't been replaced yet.

"They could at least show respect to this place. Some of the greatest heroes of this planet lived here...if it wasn't for them, Earth probably would be in ashes." Maria grumbled, her eyes trained on the building site.

A man reading a newspaper walked by all of a sudden. Shizuru's eyes lit up with an idea. She tapped Natsuki's shoulder, catching her attention, before she tapped on the man's. "Excuse me sir?"

"Yes?" he averted his eyes from the paper to Shizuru.

'Do you know what they're building here?"

"Oh..." He stared at them, surprised. "You don't know? Bloody hell, I thought that everyone knew. Here." He folded his paper closed, and pointed to the bolded headline.

**NEW MUSEUM TO BE BUILT ON THE GROUNDS OF GARDEROBE INSTITUTE**

"They're building a museum, dedicated to the Golden Age here. Apparently, also in the Golden Age, Asuka City, Tokyo back then- had a 'Garderobe Institute' where the best Masked Riders, Benders and Otomes, in all of Earth resided. Cool, huh?" He smiled. "Even cooler, they're building this museum in the same way that the Institute supposedly looked like, based on a painting from that time." The man walked away after his little explanation.

Natsuki and Shizuru stood there quietly. Natsuki finally broke their silence, by throwing her head back, and staring up at the sky.

"Looks like we'll finally get some commemoration after all, guys..."

* * *

**Day 3**

"Thank you for speaking to our students." The teacher beamed, shaking Maria's hand quite vigorously.

"It was nothing. Just doing my job... or at least, part of it."

"Well, thank you anyways, Ms. Kruger." Natsuki nodded, and exited through the doors of the school. As she left, the bell rang, signalling to the students that their day was over.

For some reason, there was something different about the school. It wasn't just that there were Robot and Werepyre teachers (those two, along with Dragons were the only creatures that weren't wiped out completely, as far as she had seen). There was a certain quality to the place that made it rather familiar to the woman. Why? She wasn't sure. But she would soon find out.

The Werewolf stood outside the school, waiting for the cab she had called to pull up, when she heard voices. Natsuki usually didn't care too much about voices; she was never good at memorizing them within a short period of time. Plus, what was the use? With the knowledge that someday, they would be gone, and never heard again, there was no good reason for Natsuki to memorize anyone's voice. There were only a handful of people she could identify by voice only.

The voices she heard, sounded the exact same as the voices of the people who she had memorized.

"Hurry up damn it!"

"I'm trying my best, okay?"

"Well your best isn't good enough then!"

Natsuki turned, to stare at the source of the squabbling. She gasped, and her eyes bugged. Raising a hand up, she rubbed furiously at each eye, before looking back. Sure enough, the owners of both voices were still there.

"Stop fighting you two!"

"Fighting doesn't get you anywhere in life, you know!"

"Yes it does!"

"Was I asking your opinion?"

More people joined in. Natsuki just kept staring. How was this possible?

Natsuki thought that nothing else could surprise her. But, of course, something did.

"Hey, now cut it out. All of you."

Natsuki would have kept on staring, had her cab not pulled up. Even after she got in, she pressed her face against the glass, keeping whoever she was staring at in sight, until she was too far away.

_Click_

A picture came onto the hotel computer screen.

_Click_

A window popped up, displaying various names arranged in a tree.

_Clickclick_

The window closed, and another appeared, displaying more names, this time arranged into a long list

_Click_

A tab was opened from the same window.

_Click_

A handful of names came up.

Natsuki smiled.

"I knew it."

* * *

**Day 4**

"Natsuki, where are we going?"

"You'll see."

"A school? Natsuki, we've spent almost all of our time this week at schools, do we really need to see another one?"

"This one's different."

"Really. How?"

**KILL KONG KANG KONG! KANG KONG KILL KONG!**

"There."

"You've taken me to see high school students? As nice as I'm sure they may be, I'd rather not get arrested for ogling jail bait."

"No! There!"

"Oh come-"

"See?"

"Oh...my..."

"I told you this one was different."

* * *

**Day 5**

The grounds of the Asuka cemetery (the oldest recorded burial grounds in Earth history) were almost empty that day. Only a couple of mourners were there, far less than usual. Then again, on that day, the grounds were stepped upon by people who hadn't been to the cemetery for over a thousand years.

The Krugers stood at the gates to the cemetery.

"Do you remember where they are?" Natsuki asked, more to herself then to her companion.

Shizuru swallowed thickly. "Always." She murmured.

"So do I."

They began to walk, past the rows and rows of graves, past the ash urns underneath the ground, past so many people who had lived the course of their own lives, once upon a time.

They walked on for an indeterminable amount of time. It could have been days for all they knew. They walked deep into the resting grounds, until they reached a certain spot.

Plenty of tombstone stood, silently lined up in a row. The difference between all these and the other graves, was that all of these graves seemed a little, just a little closer together than the others. That, and these grave markers were older, crumbling, the names chiselled upon them barely visible. Yet those names still managed to jump out at Natsuki and Shizuru.

_Takeshi "Gian" Goda, Shizuo Enjin Kruger, Mai Tokiha, Masa Shiranui, Nobita Tohno, Chikane Himemiya, Himeko Himemiya, Midori Sugiura._

And so many more. But right in the middle, of them all, stood one in particular.

_Kotoha Kruger_

Both Natsuki and Shizuru had been carrying numerous amounts of arranged flower bunches in their arms. They both began to place flowers at each and every grave, starting from opposite ends, until they reached Kotoha's where they both knelt, side by side.

Natsuki smiled sadly, long-forgotten memories coming back. "Hi guys. It's us. Sorry we haven't visited in such a long time."

"It's been hard getting along without you all, especially you Kotoha." Shizuru murmured, as she traced the capital **'K'** on the marker. "It was just so painful to be staying here when everyone was gone. And then when Kotoha died... we had to get away. I'm sorry we didn't visit earlier."

"You all should have had more time. Every single one. Even a brat like you, Chikane." Natsuki grinned ruefully at her old friend's resting place, situated right next to Himeko's. She looked over to Masa's tomb. Even though Himeko had been executed, that the Dragons had left her body hanging outside of the city, Masa (who had still been alive at the time) had traveled all the way to the Dragon city in China and taken her body back to Garderobe, where they had held a proper burial for her.

"But...I know that even if you can't be with us, here...you can all be with each other." Shizuru's voice cracked, and she bit her lip, trying not to cry.

Natsuki patted Shizuru soothingly on her back, before pulling her into a hug.

"I have some good news for everyone." Natsuki said, looking over Shizuru's shoulder, at the tombstones.

"Looks like history is repeating itself, I went to a school a couple of days ago, and you wouldn't believe who I saw." Maria closed her eyes, enhancing the image in her mind.

"I happened to see us. Some young high school kids, who walked, acted, talked, and dressed (well, like we probably would) exactly like us. There were even two that were Shizuru and I. Hell, they even sounded like us. The way we used to squabble..."

Shizuru pulled herself away from Natsuki, and rubbed at her eyes "So, in a way, we're all getting a second chance at life." Natsuki opened her eyes again. They were glistening with what was left of the tears she hadn't managed to push back. "And who knows? Maybe even you..." She gestured towards her invisible audience to Kotoha's grave, "...might even be born again in the future. Somehow."

"But whatever happens..." Natsuki managed to smile through the tears, along with Shizuru. The finished, in unison;

"I hope you're all happy."

* * *

"Come on Oyama! You're so slow!" Fujimaki yelled.

"I'm trying!" Oyama whined back, struggling to put his arm through the straps on his backpack.

"Well try a little harder!" The yankee retorted, as he ran out of the doors of Chocobo High. Being the oldest high school in Asuka City (it had seen many a renovation), stretching back to the Golden Age, it hadn't changed its name, just like some of the other 'oldest' places in Lore, such as the Asuka Cemetery.

Sai Akuto smiled at Fujimaki, as he saw the younger student approach him. "Oyama being slow again, Fujimaki?"

Fujimaki sighed. "I swear, if he was any slower, he'd be going backwards." Fujimaki surveyed his surroundings for a moment. "Where are the rest?"

"Junko and Noda obviously went home, Keena took Matsushita away to the new yakiniku stall for the rice and beef respectively, only the Dragon King knows where T.K. is, Hinata, Otonashi and Yui went off to see the Blitz match – Zanarkand Abes vs Tokyo Giants remember? Shiina, Mussolini, Korone and Akihisa went for their respective hangouts, Yuuji is "playing tag" with Shouko in a 5km diameter, Takamatsu went to the gym to work out and Yuri went to go talk to Mr. Suneo about something. Why?"

Fujimaki, managing to absorb all that info, just shrugged. "They're usually here by the time I'm here, by the school doors. Anyways, you won't believe what someone did in class today..."

Akuto listened to Fujimaki's tale for a bit, before his attention drifted elsewhere, as something caught his eye.

Akuto had had a feeling that someone was watching him for the past couple of days. In fact, he had a feeling that someone was watching him, and all of his friends. He had merely waved it off the first two times, but something caused him to turn around and look where it was coming from. Fujimaki didn't notice; Oyama and Akihisa had appeared before the boy could notice.

What, or rather who, he saw, was quite surprising.

There stood a woman, staring at him with her eyes, oddly enough; Akuto saw something in that woman, something like a glimpse into his future, like staring straight into his older self.

A car passed, and she was gone.

"Aa-chan?" Keena Soga's voice came to him. Akuto blinked, and looked back at his girlfriend.

"Wha- Keena? I thought you went with Matsushita..."

"Oh, Matsushita? He's fine, he just went to the toilet, but are you okay Aa-chan? You sort of...spaced out for a minute."

"...I'm fine." Akuto answered, after a brief pause. "I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"Just about how I want to make every moment last, with you, and the rest of our friends."

The rest of his friends who are available for today had came by then, and they had formed a little cluster, with Akuto and Keena in the back. Akuto slipped his hand into Keena's, and squeezed it tightly.

"This is after all, our story from now on."


End file.
